As in any other playoff, candidate rhetoric let loose during the U.S. presidential race can be tough. We’ve held a front row seat to the 2012 showdown for over a year, with tensions still rising as the general election looms nearer. Some of the barbs launched along the campaign trail have been laughable: Newt Gingrich’s television ad incriminating Mitt Romney for his ability to speak French comes to mind. Others are not. The dialogue surrounding U.S. poverty and inequality, two issues that are hotter than ever during a deep recession that the nation has shown incapable of simply shaking off [...]
Environment
Maternal-Related Predictors of Self-Regulation Among Low-Income Youth
The association between self-regulation and various adaptive outcomes is a topic of growing interest, yet there is little research on predictors of self-regulation in children. This study examined whether maternal characteristics, namely the mother’s mental health, substance abuse, parenting practices, and child monitoring predicted self-regulation in children. Participants were a culturally diverse group of... »
Environmental policy: Linking social justice and the environment
Some fear that the benefits of environmentally friendly initiatives largely go to the upper-middle class, while the costs fall heavily on lower income people, who rarely have a voice in discussions about environmental policy. In Massachusetts, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs is holding a series of “public listening sessions” to give those most affected by its... »
Probing the links between pollution and poverty
The Environmental Protection Agency has granted researchers $7 million to study the cumulative health impact of pollutants. Environmental justice advocates have noted over the years that people with lower incomes are disproportionately exposed to pollution. In addition, some research has found that nonchemical factors such as stress and poverty can worsen the harmful effects... »